Berry Springs Preserve Herps of Texas report, 16Jun2018

It was a pleasant evening at Berry Springs Preserve - clear skies, a light breeze, and temps in the 80s. We saw an Eastern Kingbird near the playground on the way down to the ponds, and several Yellow-crowned Night Herons, a Great Blue Heron, Chimney Swifts, swallows (probably Cliff Swallows), and lots of bats at the ponds before sunset. The summer night bugs were calling in force. We heard two different American Bullfrogs (Call Index = 1), Green Tree Frogs (CI = 2), Blanchard's Cricket Frogs (CI = 2), and one quiet purr from a Rio Grande Leopard Frog (CI = 1), obtaining recordings of all but the latter. One the way back to the parking lot, we spotted an American Bullfrog in the slough by the footbridge, but after being an unwilling participant in a brief juggling act, a mighty leap permitted it to escape back to the safety of the slough. We confirmed that a small, blue net is not big enough to hold our monster bullfrogs.
The monitoring period was 20:35 - 21:50.
Participants were Kathy, Diane, Christie, Marc, Heike, Mike & Carol & Mariah, Sondra, Larry, and Leia (welcome !).
Environmental conditions at the main pond at sunset:

• Air temperature = 84.2 deg F
• Water temperature = 81 deg F
• Sky = No/few clouds
• Water level = Average
• Relative humidity at sunset = 46 %

Posted on June 17, 2018 03:52 PM by k_mccormack